Pueltown was bustling with life, in that late summer morning. The pig-tailed girl smiled, before testing her backpack's weight with a quick tug and finally exiting from the boat she had spent the last hours into. Flocks of Wingulls shrieked in the quaint harbour, gracefully landing on the crate of goods in the commercial section of the port and harassing local fishermen…sight that made her smirk, before shaking her head and going towards the centre of the city. The journey from Fiore had been pretty calm, everything considered, but right now she had to make the last stretch of her journey. She sighed, sitting on a bench next to a bus stop sign, impatiently waiting for the vehicle that was going to bring her to her destination.
Ranger School…a dream coming true, after two years of online courses and a lucky scholarship she had earned the last spring. Sure, she had trained hard in those years, but to be finally able to practice in first person, with other young aspirants ready to enter the Union…
She gulped, the thought of entering as a foreign student in a school where everyone else already knew each other making her more than a little nervous…she wasn't the most outgoing gal out there, if she had to be honest. No, if she really had to be honest "Pokémon, her parents, her sister and a few other people" were the only people she tended to interact with, and, just to reiterate the point, some of her neighbours had started referring to her with the charming nickname of Grumpy. Not very flattening, but she couldn't say they hadn't a point.
The noise of the bus, finally arriving, made her snap out of her thoughts: she would have time to think about her problems later, she supposed.
The road that linked Pueltown with Vientown first, and the Academy later, was a tiny road slivering between endless, wild fields before touching the outer rim of Vien Forest. The sight wasn't really surprising: Almia (and Fiore…and well, all the Union regions, if she had to be honest) were pretty backwater, even compared to other minor regions like Hoenn or Sinnoh, so, outside of the (moderately) big cities nature was left undisturbed, carefully guarded by area Rangers. Tourism was scarce, maybe a little more prevalent in Oblivia after the natural disaster that had hit Hoenn a few years earlier, and industry was still developing, except the valiant (if a little bit doomed from the start) effort of a lone local company to usurp Sinnoh as the leader in the clean energy market. So…backwater, yeah. Not that she complained about it: she would have felt terribly out of place in a place like Kanto…or Unova, even worse.
"Next stop: Ranger School. End of the line."
Finally. She quickly grabbed her backpack before going towards the door of the bus, that opened just in front of a metal, imponent gate. She inspired, closing her eyes for a moment: yes, she was ready. She smiled, moving the last steps towards her new life.
Pouring her feelings into the styler, while carefully manoeuvring the disk around the Pikachu, was definitely easier than she had expected. Well, okay, it was difficult, but…as long as she stopped worrying about the tiny details and just let her instincts and feelings take over she felt she could make it. The more the little disk spun, leaving behind a track of light, the more she felt confident: she could do it. She knew that.
Capture complete.
The young girl smiled, guiding the capture disk towards her hand after its purpose had been fulfilled. The bright yellow rodent in front of her looked in her direction for a few seconds, an happy expression clearly present in its muzzle, before running towards the instructor wearing a baseball cap.
"Ehehe…you passed the test. I welcome you in our secret army, the inscrutable Team School…Together, we shall conquer the entire world!"
Before the girl could open her mouth a woman, long red hair and strict but classy clothes, entered the room they were into, a clearly irritated expression on her face.
"Mr. Kaplan! Again with this nonsense?! You'll end scaring the students!"
The man simply laughed, raising his hands in the air.
"Come on, Ms. April! It was just a joke."
The woman sighed, putting her left hand on her hip.
"It stopped being fun fifteen times ago, Mr. Kaplan."
The instructor shrugged, before turning again towards the young girl.
"Well, congratulation for your successful capture! I officially welcome you as a student of the Ranger school. Your prize is keeping the Styler I gave you…you are free to practice with it, even outside my capture lessons."
Oh. Now everything started make sense again. The girl smiled briefly, thankful to not being recruited for who know what nefarious purpose, before turning her head towards the woman.
"Congratulations, indeed! I am Ms. April, and I will be your teacher outside of the practical sessions of Capture and Athletics, held by our Mr. Kaplan here…" at which she inclined her head towards the man, now holding the Pikachu in his arms "…and Target clearing and Wilderness survival, held by Mrs. Claire. Please, follow me to our class."
She started following Ms. April without further ado, exiting from the building the staff had herded her into after arriving (that she supposed was dedicated to the Capture lessons) and crossing the large courtyard of the school.
"How was the journey from Fiore, miss Lawson?"
The girl winced, surprised by that sudden question, before answering in a tiny voice.
"Oh, fine, thank you, Miss."
Damn…she wasn't really good at small talk, uh? Scratch that, she wasn't good with talk in general. Ms. April, however, simply smiled, not bothered by that last phrase.
"Nervous, mh? Don't worry, I'm sure you will feel like home in no time."
She…wasn't so sure, but she appreciated the effort. They entered together the main building, turning immediately to the left in a secondary corridor.
"Here we are. Feel ready?"
The girl inspired, before nodding. She was going to be a Ranger, she shouldn't have been scared of twenty or so students her age…and yet, she was. Everything, from facing forest fires to earthquakes, would have been better than that.
"Good. Let's go."
With a last smile she opened the door, walking into the classroom with confident strides…and being followed with much less bold ones, as the girl started feeling all the eyes on her. Ms. April stopped in front of her desk, the excited murmurs of the class stopping immediately as she started talking again.
"Good morning, everyone. As you can see, the transfer student I mentioned a few days ago has arrived! Please, give a warm welcome to miss Kate Lawson."
Kate smiled, trying to appear relaxed (and probably failing spectacularly). Great. Ms. April was about to start speaking again when she stopped, glaring at a red-haired boy in the last row of desks, currently busy hiding the fact that he was soundly asleep. Kate couldn't help but smiling a little…Ms. April sure had a sharp eyesight, didn't she? That, and probably many years of experience in similar situations.
"And yes, mister Carter, that includes you. Lessons haven't even started yet, and you're already napping?!"
The only answer was a slightly bored "Yes, Ms. April…", which the teacher promptly chose to ignore in favour of addressing the whole class again.
"Since the official lessons will start only tomorrow I suppose leaving the morning free would be ideal. Please, class, show miss Lawson around. I will be in the staffroom if you need me."
Oh no. Nonononono…Kate could only watch as Ms. April exited the class, and she almost wished the ground would open and swallow her whole as the entire classroom surrounded her, a storm of questions coming from all around her.
"Guys! GUYS! Let her breathe, for crying out loud!"
A blonde, curly girl fended the crowd away from Kate, instantly gaining the latter's eternal gratitude.
"Now, I know you're curious, but she's going to have a heart attack if you start pressuring her like this in the first minutes of her stay!"
She smiled, turning her head towards the pig-tailed girl.
"I'm Rhythmi, nice to meet you! You can call me Rhyth, if you like."
She was like a…an angel. Perhaps she had been worrying too much, if all the other students were like…
"Hey, new kid! I forgot your name, but how long did it take to capture that Pikachu? An hour or more?"
Rhythmi's face immediately lost its reassuring smile as she grabbed the nearest object, namely a blue pencil case on a desk behind her, and performed a masterful headshot to the red haired guy that had just talked. Hey, it was the same that had been asleep, before. The outraged 'Ow!' that followed almost immediately the hit erased the wave of anger that Kate had felt raising in her chest after that condescending comment, replaced instead by a quite substantial need to laugh. Students around her weren't as restrained as she was, however, as they started snickering and chuckling at the sight of the student massaging his forehead.
"Don't mind Keith, he's not worth the effort when he's acting like this."
"Hey!"
Rhyth shook her head and then kept ignoring him, continuing as if nothing had just happened.
"How about I take you to explore the school a little? We can resume the presentation and the unavoidable question-and-answer session later, mh?"
She really was an angel, there was no other explanation. An angel with a wicked aim and an uncanny ability to understand what she was feeling…really, she couldn't ask for more. Kate nodded, a smile returning on her face.
"Good! Let's go!"
Rhythmi escorted her out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"You came from Fiore, right?"
Kate nodded, as they started to walk.
"Yes, from Ringtown."
The blonde girl nodded back before continuing.
"There's a lot of people from Fiore in the other class of our year…Our class is mostly made of Almians."
"Are you from Almia, too?"
Rhyth shook her head, a tiny smile forming on her lips.
"Well…no. I'm quite an oddity, to be honest…normally, girls from Johto wish to become Trainers, or maybe Coordinators. But that wasn't the career I wanted to join. I guess having an Oblivian mother helped." she said, ending the phrase with a little shrug.
"I heard that outside of the Union territory people barely acknowledge the Rangers."
The blonde girl groaned, scratching her nape with her left hand.
"Damn straight. 'Rangers' there are just trainers that particularly like nature…I remember being misunderstood all the time. Let me tell you, that's frustrating."
She stopped speaking, signalling Kate to turn to the right into another corridor with an hand, before continuing.
"So…are you here to become a Ranger?"
Kate nodded, her eyes wandering on her surroundings.
"Yes…I think I would really be a failure as an Operator, and I simply like Pokémon more than machines…though I'm not bad with them, I have to admit. What about you, Rhythmi?"
"Operator, no doubts about that! I can't wait to order Keith around, and to have him actually do what he's been told for once!"
Oh, she should have guessed, to be honest, Rhythmi would have been perfect as an Operator. A guide, leading and coordinating Rangers no matter how dire the situation. Wait, so that meant that…
"Somehow I'm not surprised he wants to be a Ranger."
Rhyth chuckled, before her expression turned more serious.
"Maybe I'm being a little too mean towards him, though. He's not bad, he just likes to open his mouth before thinking first. He's a good friend, once you know how to deal with him. Give him a possibility, will ya?"
Kate sighed, before shrugging. She had to admit, her first impression hadn't been very positive, but if she was so sure about it…
"I kinda wanted to strangle him after that comment, but I suppose you're right."
Rhythmi clearly wanted to add something else, but she shook her head at the last second, offering Kate a sly smile instead.
"Oh no, by all means, next time I'm not there to hit him do that for me if he deserves it."
She stopped in front of a door, quickly pointing it to Kate.
"Oh, look, that's the other classroom for the students of our year. Do you want to enter for a quick visit?"
"Oh. Uhm…but if we'd do that wouldn't we disturb the classroom?"
Rhyth briefly shook her head.
"Nah. Lessons starts in a day or two, we're here earlier to let the new arrivals like you settle down. So it's kinda expected for people to go around everywhere."
"Oh. Okay then…let's enter, I guess."
It took a few hours for Rhythmi to show her around, but Kate felt satisfied by the experience. The School had…interesting people, to say the least. Take the teacher of the other classroom, Mr. Kincaid, for example. She had never seen an hairstyle so…well, indescribable. A single, gigantic curl, heroically resisting on one side of the head against gravity (Rhythmi suggested a quite substantial use of hairspray, but Kate wasn't fully convinced)…woah. Also, for some reason the man was obsessed with his ban of running in the corridors and had a lab in the basement, its access forbidden to students. Okay, maybe he was a little more than unusual, though apparently the lab was part of a deal between the Academy and the local energy firm, Altru Inc. (at least, that's what Rhyth had said). Other than that, however, the visit had been fairly normal: a pretty extensive library (in which she had apparently met the greatest genius of their generation with an atrocious taste in hairstyles, named Isaac), the dorms, the staffroom and so on. After a brief encounter with principal Lamont Splendidocious (who had quickly requested to be simply addressed as principal Lamont), an old but definitely wise old man, Rhyth had guided her towards the courtyard, briefly showing her the facilities around.
"Well, now that we've begun the specialization year I'm not going to use this room anymore, but you definitely will." she said, pushing once again open the door of the Capture (and Obstacle removal) classroom. Mrs. Claire had been kind enough to offer Kate a practice run, letting her smash a crate or two just to get the basic process straight, and now Rhyth was taking her new classmate to the 'last important place left in the School'. At least, that's what she would have done, if a distressed yell hadn't stopped the two girls just after a few steps.
"Oh dear! Oh dear! Please, someone help me with the Bidoof!"
Kate turned her head to look at Rhyth. Her expression was still pretty calm, though you could clearly see a tiny veil of worry beneath.
"That sounded like Mrs. Janice…let's go!"
Mrs. Janice, Mrs. Janice…oh, right, the caretaker lady. Kate immediately sprinted, following the sounds of the commotion. Almost in the middle of the courtyard a middle-aged woman was standing, surrounded by a dozen, or maybe less, Bidoof running left and right.
"Mrs. Janice! Is everything alright?"
The woman looked in their direction, a mortified expression on her face.
"Oh, I've accidentally stepped on the pack leader's tail and they all got upset…please, capture them and calm them down! They could get hurt if they start running everywhere!"
Kate didn't need to hear more. Her hand darted to the increasingly familiar shape of her Capture Styler, extracting it and starting to run towards the nearest Pokémon.
"I was wondering what the ruckus was! Great, free practice!"
A red-haired boy run towards the nearest Bidoof, observing it with an amused smile but without doing anything else.
"Keith! Stop being your lazy self and actually help us!"
Oh, great. Kate couldn't help a wave of irritation to grow inside her, despite her best efforts to not let herself be bothered by his presence.
"Hey, how about we spice this up with a challenge! You! New kid! The one who captures more Bidoof wins!"
Now the irritation had transformed in full, boiling rage. Dammit, was he even capable of not acting like a complete jerk for a few seconds?! Rhyth seemed to think the same, because she stomped the ground in frustration with her left foot before yelling back.
"KEITH! DO YOU THINK THIS…AH, FORGET IT! Kate, just capture them!" she added, in the end, wildly gesturing towards the fleeing animals. Kate didn't really needed to be told twice: she launched herself towards the nearest one, chasing it until she was near enough to initiate the capture attempt.
"Capture on!" she shouted, expelling the disk and beginning to circle the rodent. Unlike her previous captures, she found concentrating on her positive emotions of friendship towards the Pokémon hard, harder than it had ever been. She just had…to concentrate on them and forgetting her feeling of frustration, she reminded herself. Not an easy thing to do, but after a few loops she had managed to stabilize her feelings enough to capture the Bidoof. Well, next one! She quickly looked around her, before immediately sprinting to her left to reach one of the fugitives before it could get away. She allowed herself to smile: she could do it. She wouldn't give that annoying brat the satisfaction of winning!
"It seems that our Keith has won, with five captured Bidoof against four. But congratulation to you too, miss! You definitely have potential."
Keith grinned, before showing off a little by executing his Ranger pose. Damn, he was so proud of it!
"Woho! I won!"
Mrs. Janice smiled, before herding away the now calm animals with the promise of one of her special dishes…and only then Keith noticed the dark expression on the new girl's face. Uh-oh…maybe he had gone a little too far by challenging her on her first day there. He quickly exchanged a glance with Rhythmi, whose expression clearly spelled 'Don't be an idiot and do something!'
"But hey, I must admit you did very well, considering today was the first time you used your Styler! I'm pretty impressed. Your name is Kate, right?"
The girl's expression softened a little, as Rhyth started to laugh, delighted.
"Oh, you! You knew her name from the beginning, didn't you? Geez, I've told you I don't know how many times to not act this way! Kate was two seconds away from punching you before!"
…Wait, what? Rhyth was pretty good at reading people, but her last phrase had been a joke, right? Right…?
"Anyway, we should go! As I told you before, there's one last place we need to visit!"
Keith smirked, pointing eastwards with his thumb.
"Ascension square, uh? I'm coming with you!"
Rhyth snorted, putting her hands on her hips.
"Geez, Keith! What if I wanted the experience to be girls-only?"
Keith did the only thing he could: summon his best pair of puppy eyes and hope that this time his friend wasn't serious.
"Aww, Rhyth, c'mon!"
Her expression turned in a sly one, as she scratched her chin with one hand.
"Mmh…I guess I can allow you to come. But!" she said, as her expression turned into an even sneakier one "…you can come only if Kate is alright with it."
Rhyth, I love you to pieces, but sometimes you're terrible.
Kate looked at him for a few seconds, an hard expression that made him honestly sweat bullets, before shrugging, her expression softening (but not by much).
"Yes, it's fine. Let's go."
Keith, finally breathing again, obediently started to follow the girls across the courtyard, before descending the stairs that linked the School proper to Ascension square. Ascension square…he had to admit, even after years of attending the Academy, the marble monument in the middle of it still held quite a big deal of charm. So he wasn't really surprised when he saw the new girl's awestruck expression, her dark blue eyes shimmering. Heh…he supposed he had had the same expression, the first time he had seen it, but that girl…from their earlier interactions, he would have never expected such an open gesture of surprise and happiness.
"This, Kate, is the Ascension square! We'll have an Outdoor class here in a month or so. It's a really cool moment, and they usually have a true member of the Union joining! Last time it was a mechanic, and another time we had an Operator…though they usually call Rangers, since the others have more trouble leaving their places."
She stopped, pointing to the monument proudly displaying the Rangers symbol on it.
"And that's the Pledge Stone. They say that if you make a promise here with your friends, it will certainly become true…or at least, that's what Principal Lamont says, but I believe him! Imagine, all the students since the School opened wishing on it, and the Stone carrying their dream for the future generations to see…isn't that great?!"
Oh, no, Rhyth was getting carried away again. Keith cleared his throat, gesture that seemed to get the blonde girl's attention.
"Oh, right. Well, this concludes Rhythmi's Amazing School Tour of Excitement and Wonder!"
She stopped, smiling and extending an hand towards the pig-tailed girl.
"I'm glad to have met you! I hope we can be friends for a long time!"
Keith laughed, putting an hand on Rhyth's shoulder and offering a thumbs up with the other.
"Oh, come on, don't leave me out! I want to be her friend too!"
Kate, previously smiling, immediately lost her joyful expression, instead offering him a confused look. Great, he had really made a bad first impression, hadn't he. However, the brunette never managed to answer, as the silvery sound of a bell resounded in the air. Rhyth immediately started to run towards the stairs, signalling them to follow.
"We should really hurry up, if we don't want to lose lunch! Come on, let's go!"
Kate immediately started springing with surprising speed, quickly followed by the red-haired boy. Yup, that year was definitely going to be interesting, Keith thought with a quick smile.